In this third second round of interviews, Bryan sat down to talk to Mike Resnick, Kate Corcino, and Beth Cato about their contributions to Decision Points.
This week, Hugo-nominated editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt’s first Young Adult anthology, Decision Points debuted from WordFire Press. A collection of 20 stories mixing science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories in which character’s decisions determine each story’s outcome, the anthology has been praised by luminaries such as YA superstar, Tamora Pierce, the New York Times Bestselling author of Circle Of Magic and The Song Of The Lioness, who said: “A strong, well-written, fascinating selection—this was the most solid-in-quality anthology I’ve ever read!” The anthology contains 6 originals and 14 reprints, several of which have never appeared in anthologies before.
***
Mike Resnick is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He is the winner of five Hugos from a record 37 nominations, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia, Catalonia, and Poland, and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy, and Australia. He is the author of 76 novels, 275 stories, and 3 screenplays, and is the Hugo-nominated editor of 42 anthologies. His work has been translated into 26 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at mikeresnick.com.
BTS: What is the name of your Decision Points story and what’s it about?
Mike Resnick: “The Boy Who Cried ‘Dragon” is about, in a very tongue-in-cheek way, dragon-hunting and friendship.
BTS: What gave you the idea for your story?
MR: It was originally assigned by a book of medieval fantasies, and what’s more medieval and fantastic than dragon-hunting?
BTS: Tell us a bit about your main character(s) please.
MR: He’s a typical self-doubting teenager, he can’t get a date for prom, he’s got acne, no one wants him on their sporting team – and the dragon he hunts and eventually befriends has precisely the same problems.
BTS: Does your story tie in to other works or worlds you’ve written? How?
MR: None of the characters reappear, but humor’s relatively rare in science fiction, and my bibliographer tells me I’ve sold more than 130 funny stories.
BTS: What are other projects you’re working on that might interest us?
MR: Collections of my humorous Lucifer Jones and Harry the Book stories.
BTS: How does your approach to writing short stories differ from your long form process, if it does?
MR: I don’t need a market in mind or an assignment in hand when I write short stories, whereas I won’t begin work on a novel without a contract.
BTS: Tell us about a Decision Point of yours that changed your life.
MR: When I was in my early 20s I decided my talent was viable enough for me to quit my (editorial) job and become a full-time freelancer. More than half a century later I’m still freelancing and still paying my bills.
***
Kate Corcino writes adult speculative fiction. Her debut novel, Spark Rising, placed second in the Paranormal, Futuristic and Fantasy category of the Toronto RWA Catherine Award for 2014. It also won the 2015 National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award for Paranormal/Futuristic. Her latest novel, Spark Awakening, has just released. Her short stories include “Border Time,” a forthcoming story set in The X-Files universe of the TV show. She has also released Ignition Point, a collection of related short stories set in the same story world as the novel. Find her on Twitter as @KateCorcino or at KateCorcino.com.
BTS: What is the name of your Decision Points story and what’s it about?
Kate Corcino: “Blood and Water” is the story of Lucas, a young man who has spent his childhood shunned by his politically powerful family because he was born a Spark–gifted with the same ability that condemns others to life as a resource in their post-apocalyptic world. His grandfather offers him a place in the re-shaped world, but Lucas discovers belonging carries a heavy cost.
BTS: What gave you the idea for your story?
KC: I’ve always been fascinated by the concept that everyone is a hero (or a victim) in his own story. Even when working on my protagonists, the heroes, I like to keep in mind that from the opposing point of view, they’re the villains. The story came about as I worked on background for a character in my first novel. His backstory is chilling.
BTS: Tell us a bit about your main character(s) please.
KC: Lucas lives in a near-future post-apocalyptic society that is obsessed with the cost of power–actual electrical power that provides comfort and fuels productivity. He’s a Spark. In general, those who are born as Sparks are limited by an accident of genetics to live as the working class behind the power plants. There is dissent growing in the world as those who provide the actual power demand more of a voice from those who wield it. Lucas is caught in the middle, born both a Spark and a member of the ruling family. He has to figure out his place in the world.
BTS: Does your story tie in to other works or worlds you’ve written? How?
KC: “Blood and Water” is set in the same world as my Progenitor Saga series of futuristic fantasy novels. Lucas is a recurring character in both Spark Rising, the first novel, and in Spark Awakening, due out in June 2016.
BTS: What are other projects you’re working on that might interest us?
MR: I have several short stories appearing in anthologies. “Border Time” (co-written with Bryan Thomas Schmidt) is in X-Files: Secret Agendas, due out September 27, 2016. I also have two short stories included in an indie-published collection of five YA anthologies due out in June 2016. The contemporary story “Crossroad” is in Acts of Bravery and the alternate reality fantasy “Catalyst” is in Underdogs. My second novel, Spark Awakening, is due out next month, as well, and I am working on the third book of the Progenitor Saga (Spark) now. At the request of early readers, I’m also in the early stages of a novel set in the world of “Catalyst.”
BTS: How does your approach to writing short stories differ from your long form process, if it does?
KC: My short stories spin out on their own. The idea comes and I write it. Novels take quite a bit more. I outline, plot character and event arcs, and have been known to create maps and build plot calendars for events in novels. Either way, both short stories and novels require a great deal of revising, throwing out material, and reworking after the writing is done!
BTS: Tell us about a Decision Point of yours that changed your life.
KC: Since I was a girl, I’d always dreamed of being either a lawyer or a writer. I made other decisions, and I had several other professions first, including teaching. At 40, with my husband’s support, I finally started law school. I loved the material, but when I began interning I quickly realized it wasn’t a good fit for this daydreamer. After moving cross country and uprooting my family, I struggled with the decision to walk away. Both decisions were turning points. Law school taught me to work harder than I ever had before and quitting taught me to trust myself. Less than a year later, I was deep into revisions of my first novel.
***
Beth Cato is the author of the Clockwork Dagger series from Harper Voyager, which includes her Nebula-nominated novella Wings Of Sorrow And Bone. Her newest novel is Breath Of Earth. She’s a Hanford, California native transplanted to the Arizona desert, where she lives with her husband, son, and requisite cat. Follow her at BethCato.com and on Twitter at @BethCato.
BTS: What is the name of your Decision Points story and what’s it about?
Beth Cato: “An Echo in the Shell” is about a granddaughter’s love for her grandmother… who is cursed and slowly changing into a large cockroach.
BTS: What gave you the idea for your story?
BC: I wrote it as part of a Halloween contest on Codex Writers. I was provided with the prompt “the noise of bugs” but I was stumped about how to utilize that. I read through an issue of Reader’s Digest and encountered an article on Alzheimer’s and how it impacts families. In my head, this melded with the story prompt, and “An Echo in the Shell” was the result.
BTS: Tell us a bit about your main character(s) please.
BC: Allison carries her share of teenaged angst, but it’s well-earned: her beloved, cursed grandma is gradually becoming a cockroach in behavior–and that soon may become flesh–while her mother has descended into alcoholism to cope. Allison has given up on any kind of normal social life. She desperately wants her grandma to still be present in her life, for them to watch old game shows like Match Game again.
BTS: Does your story tie in to other works or worlds you’ve written? How?
BC: No, it’s completely stand alone.
BTS: What are other projects you’re working on that might interest us?
BC: I’m the author of the Clockwork Dagger steampunk fantasy series from Harper Voyager. I have a new series starting in August with Breath of Earth, set in alt-history 1906 San Francisco, featuring geomancy, mythological creatures, and a joint American and Japanese effort to rule the world.
BTS: How does your approach to writing short stories differ from your long form process, if it does?
BC: The basic process remains the same: mull things over, outline, write a really horrible rough draft, then do whatever it takes to make it less horrible. I rely a lot on critique feedback to help me see the flaws and make everything shiny. Sometimes it seems that novels are easier than short stories, in a way. Short stories have to cram so much into so few words.
BTS: Tell us about a Decision Point of yours that changed your life.
BC: As a teenager, I battled severe depression. High school was hell. Suicide was a temptation, but most of all, I wanted to escape that toxic place and those toxic people. I took a special test through the state of California during my sophomore year, and passing it granted me the equivalent of a high school diploma. I started community college at age 16. That choice saved my life.
***
Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and Hugo-nominated editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel, The Worker Prince received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases. His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online and include entries in The X-Files and Decipher’s WARS, amongst others. His anthologies as editor include Shattered Shields with co-editor Jennifer Brozek, Mission: Tomorrow, Galactic Games, and Little Green Men—Attack! with Robin Wayne Bailey (forthcoming) all for Baen, Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6, Beyond The Sun, and Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera for a New Age. He can be found online at bryanthomasschmidt.net.
